The Japanese company was once one of the most important investors in Silicon Valley, but has sold many holdings in recent years.
(Photo: Reuters)
Frankfurt According to a newspaper report, Japanese technology investor Softbank is selling almost all of its remaining shares in Chinese Amazon rival Alibaba. Forward sales will ultimately reduce Softbank’s stake in the Chinese e-commerce group to 3.8 percent, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Wednesday from company documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
As a result, the Japanese group has already sold Alibaba papers worth around 7.2 billion dollars this year. The transactions reflected the move to a “defensive mode” to face a more uncertain business environment, the paper quoted Softbank as saying. US-listed Alibaba shares fell 1.3 percent in after-hours trading.
China is further tightening regulation for numerous technology companies. In the course of this, Alibaba announced that it would split into six companies. Separate IPOs for the units are possible, as stated in a statement at the end of March. The restructuring is the largest restructuring of the group with more than 130 billion dollars in annual sales. Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang also announced a thinning of the administration, but gave no details about job cuts.
>> Read also: Alibaba plans to split into six companies – share rises at the start of the US stock exchange
Softbank sold $29 billion worth of Alibaba stock last year. With the renewed sale, the Japanese company only has a 3.8 percent stake in Alibaba – in September it still held more than 14 percent.
Softbank, once one of Silicon Valley’s top investors, has also sold stakes in other companies and laid off staff at its Vision Fund unit in recent years. It was also previously invested in failed crypto platform FTX.
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